Southern California -- this just in

Boy Scouts 'perversion files': New lawsuits, damages likely

October 19, 2012 | 10:57
am

With the release this week of 1,200 confidential files on suspected sexual abuse from past decades, the Boy Scouts of America faces the prospect of a new wave of lawsuits and potentially costly damages.

But as in past child sex abuse cases, alleged victims’ ability to get their cases before a jury will vary dramatically by state.

Many states have strict statutes of limitation on such allegations, and experts say the likelihood of even finding a lawyer to take decades-old cases can be close to impossible.
Multimillion-dollar verdicts are possible in states such as Oregon and Washington with loose time limits — especially if juries find the Scouts acted recklessly and award punitive damages.

Lewis belonged to Boy Scout troops in the 1980s
and decades later alleged in lawsuits that the Scouts failed to protect
him and other boys against known molesters, citing detailed evidence from the
organization’s confidential files.

In 2010, Lewis won a jury verdict of nearly $20
million against the Scouts, the largest such award in the organization’s
history.

Defense attorneys argue that statutes of limitation exist for a reason: It’s hard to mount a defense against old, incendiary accusations, particularly for institutions that may have severed ties with the alleged abuser decades ago.

Key witnesses are often infirm or dead, documents have gone missing and time has eroded memories, said Don Steier, who represents priests in the clergy sex abuse case involving the Archdiocese of Los Angeles.

“No one wants it to be more difficult for children to seek justice,” said Darren McKinney, a spokesman for the American Tort Reform Assn., a coalition of corporations and professional groups that support limiting civil liability. “I think we want justice available to all, not just the accuser.”

For the Scouts, the financial stakes are considerable and the legal terrain daunting.
To settle similar claims in the past decade, dioceses in the Roman Catholic Church were forced to file for bankruptcy and sell off property.

The church and the Penn State sex abuse scandals have made judges and jurors even more sympathetic to allegations of sexual abuse and institutional cover-ups, plaintiffs’ attorneys said.

But in its 2010 treasurer’s report, the Scouts’ National Council said the cost of resolving suits then pending against the organization would probably be covered by its insurance and reserves, as the Lewis verdict was.

If the Scouts need to dip into other funds, the report said, officials could probably do so without harming the organization’s finances or operations.

Photo: Map shows locations of troops and units referenced by the Boy Scouts of
America in the expulsions of thousands of men following allegations of
sexual abuse. Credit: Ken Schwencke / Los Angeles Times